In the sport this morning, Nottingham Forest still seem to think the worlds against them and now want the audio of the contentious refereeing decisions released. Leeds united back in the automatic promotion. Places to head back to the premier league and a four time World Champion in him, considers retirement morning. Whilst it is the middle of spring, its not necessarily going to feel it with a bit of a cool feel for some of us and a bit of rain at times. Two ill have more details coming up. So after five months of deadlock, the rwanda bill has finally passed through parliament. Its poised to become law after peers ended their standoff over the controversial policy. While the showdown comes after the Prime Minister declared that enough is enough and said mps and peers will sit through the night to get the bill passed. So it now designates rwanda as a safe country and will allow the government to deport Asylum Seekers to there. Lets get some analysis this morning from the political commentator benedict spence, who joins us in the studio. Good morning to you, benedict. It was a late night, perhaps not late, as late as some people feared it might be a slog. Nevertheless, for the government, what happens now. 7 are for the government, what happens now . Are we going to see these flights taking off . Well, i suppose thats the key thing. This is not a straightforward case of the governments passing this law, and everythings hunky dory and the flights can just take off. There will be legal challenges. Weve seen that before. We saw that initially when all the way back when priti patel first floated this policy and there were talks about getting flights off the ground, actually theres been legal challenge after legal challenge, including, of course, the Supreme Court ruling the policy unlawful. So there is still, i think , a little bit of still, i think, a little bit of way to go. Rishi sunak himself said that the other day. He said that this between sorry yesterday, between 10 to 12 weeks. He anticipates until they expect flights to get off the ground so he will miss his spnng ground so he will miss his spring deadline, unless hes also going to pass a law to change when spring is. But nonetheless, this is movement of a sort. This has been sort of struck by deadlock for so long. It has become emblematic of the governments inability to pass key legislation. So i think it will be a relief to everybody that they have actually managed to get something passed the house of lords. So as it stands, benedict, we are ready to go. Rwanda is ready to receive. Yes. Well, we are ready to go in the sense that we obviously have the sense that we obviously have the people that we want to send, but we do not necessarily have the carriers yet. This is going to be the next the next issue is getting flights on a regular bafis getting flights on a regular basis and getting people to agree to actually take people and the government obviously has decided it doesnt want to purchase planes of its own for this purpose. It wants to use commercially available services. Thats going to be a bit tricky because actually nobody really wants to be tarred with the brush of a very controversial immigration policy such as this that has caused quite so much concern. You know, the labour concern. You know, the labour party referring to it as an expensive gimmick in various corners. People have called it an abuse of human rights, racist. What have you. So thats the sort of thing that actually an Airline Might not want to associate itself with. But i suppose if the money is right and well, ill tell you, i wouldnt like to be on a scheduled airline going to rwanda with goodness knows how many migrants on it. What sort of security would it take, say they decided on board . You know what, we dont want to go here from a personal perspective, this has always been something that ive not quite understood. Other countries do have specialised aircraft to deport people. I dont know why. For some reason, weve decided that this isnt a thing that we want to pursue, but that is the choice that theyve decided to make. It, i suppose, is played into one of the many things that has played into this policy. Being held up has been that difficulty, rishi sunak will live or die by this ultimately. Yeah. But the United Nations have said that the flight carriers actually stand the chance of being sued for breach of International Law if they do take these flights, just use military aircraft. Theres a dilemma for them. And we have dilemma for them. And we have nigel farage yesterday saying, mark my words , we will not see mark my words, we will not see a Single Person being exported or extradited, not even the correct word. Whats the word . Im looking for this morning . We dont even know. We dont even know. Deported. There we go. Sorry, its taking me a while. This morning. Its very early, to rwanda. Because even though there is this sort of amendment of section 39 that ministers are allowed to ignore it, theres now human rights legislation that has been built in to our legal system here, which means therell just be legal challenge after legal challenge. After legal challenge. As i say, its going to be a long slog. And i think actually even rishi sunak, 10 to 12 week timeline is a little ambitious. I think that thats probably the best case scenario, after which time we will have already had the local elections. Who knows if rishi sunak will even be in a position to be pushing forward this this policy . A lot of people seem to think that if it doesnt go very well for him, there may even be a leadership challenge, i, i must admit, im thinking the way nigel farage thinks. I mean, it just. You just cannot imagine this going ahead. Now, what about our friends at the European Court of human rights . Will they be rearing up about this . I think that theyll be looking at this very carefully , looking at this very carefully, obviously, but theres also a lot of interest from other countries who have floated the idea of pursuing similar policies , denmark being one. So policies, denmark being one. So its not simply a case of little old britain deciding that its going to take on the echr alone. Should that come to it, there are going to be other interested parties who have had major issues with the massive influxes of Illegal Migrants claiming refuge there that they cant do anything with. I mean, in denmarks case, it decided it was going to recognise parts of syria safe, even though it doesnt recognise the syrian government. In a desperate bid to try to send people back. So there are all kinds of legal obstacles that lots of countries in europe are facing. So whilst there are, as you say, legal mechanisms against this, i think there is an increasing sort of fervour and increasing mood for some solution to be found because this isnt sustainable. And even labour have talked about offshoring, havent they, in some way. And weve got a Yvette Cooper on the programme, the shadow home secretary, a little bit later on, we can ask her whether theyd be jettisoning this legislation as soon as they get in, or whether or not if it works as a deterrent, if the flights do go off, they might actually decide, maybe we will keep it. Itll be interesting how she plays it this morning. I mean, she was in fact the one, i think yesterday who described it as an expensive gimmick and i suppose half £1 billion for a scheme that will only cover 1 of Asylum Seekers, she said. Yes, which is very much a query that i and a lot of other people have. But i suppose the alternative is what i would imagine a much more expensive scheme. What are you going to build . Permanent detention centres in the uk . Are you going to purchase those uk government flights to send people . There are no cheap options to solving this. As much as people say, just invest in speeding up processing people, that doesnt necessarily solve it. If youre just saying approve, approve, approve or denied. But we have no way of getting rid of you. I mean, weve got the home secretary visiting italy this week to see if they can, stem the flow of migrants at source, yeah. How do you think hell get on . Not well, not well. The Italian Government giorgia meloni, who has been sort of, you know, pilloried across europe as being this sort of far right firebrand has summarily failed to stem the tide of migrants into italy in the first place. In fact, a lot of the electorate in italy consider her now not right wing enough, not hardline enough. The problem is that in italy in particular, they dont necessarily have the resources to stem people from coming across the mediterranean in the numbers that they are , to in the numbers that they are, to do that, you would have to have a lot more control in tripoli, in libya. Youd actually have to in libya. Youd actually have to probably have boots on the ground there. And nobody wants to do that. The Italian Government has been able to strike up a unique, arrangement with albania, but thats because they have a unique relationship andifs they have a unique relationship and its not actually in italys interests. Once migrants land, there to keep them there, its also not in the interests of the migrants themselves. Theres a reason that italy is having a demographic crisis far worse than we have young people leave because there are no jobs. The same reason happens when migrants get to italy and they see that there are no jobs. So they move north and italy does not want to keep a hold of these people. Why would it just just a final thought. I always think its worth remembering what a small percentage of net migration these illegal crossings are. I think it was 30,000 last year, with three quarters of a Million People coming into this country. Most of those legally. I think the figures 672,000 of those, sorry, 634,000 of those were students that the government have said, come on in. And, you know, all this legislation for 30,000, but thousands and thousands of these people coming in and never leaving , i think thats the leaving, i think thats the great big sort of smoke and mirrors about all of this. Is that the government has made a big song and dance about illegal migration, which, lets be clear, you cannot take yourself seriously as a government if you cant police your own borders. But yes, actually the pressures that are being put on the system, on services, on the economy is not from Illegal Migrants. Its very much from legal migration. Yeah. The size of a city of glasgow every year. Yes. You cant sustain that if you dont build a city the size of glasgow every year, with all of its accompanying infrastructure and obviously were not doing that. Benedict, appreciate your thoughts. Thank you very much indeed. Benedict spence there, so what do you think . We want your views this morning. Get in touch with us. The rwanda flights, will they take off . Will they be successful . What do you think about using scheduled aircraft to carry the migrants to rwanda . And would you buy a seat on board a plane like that . Gbnews. Com forward slash your say, please have it now. Say, please have it now. Of course it is april the 23rd. That means it is Saint Georges day. And communities across the country are gathering to celebrate englands patron saint. Well, red crosses are flying against white backgrounds. Knights are dusting off their chainmail. Yet some are asking who is saint george . And why should you celebrate him . Well, our east Midlands Reporter will hollis has the story come rain or shine. Story come rain or shine. Colin, from carlton in nottingham, will celebrate Saint Georges day. Hes been decorating his home with the Saint Georges cross for 30 years. It matches because 23rd of april is Saint Georges day and weve been forgotten about and weve been forgotten about and weve been forgotten about and weve got to show our identity and show our patriotism. In the city centre, size matters. Englands biggest flag covers nottinghams council house. It appears every year many welcome it. Some are indifferent. I think its amazing, i do, i think its absolutely amazing andifs think its absolutely amazing and its proud for something in our country. I think its really good to see it up there. Its good to see it up there. Its good to see a celebration of, of england. The country. Its a flag. Its. Yes. Yeah i didnt even realise it was there for me. The red cross against white is Saint Georges emblem and the nations flag. Saint george has been celebrated as englands patron saint since the 14th century, but long before english knights wore the red cross over their armour while riding into battle , his story was being told battle, his story was being told in other parts of the world. Legend states that george was a dragon slaying knight. History dragon slaying knight. History traces him to modern day turkey, a roman soldier who died defending christianity. In defending christianity. In london, the Royal Society of saint george, a patriotic but non political group, paraded with hundreds of cadets at the weekend. Nick hewer is chairman. Weekend. Nick hewer is chairman. A lot of our fundamental beliefs and things that we hold dear are being undermined. So i think its important we come together and celebrate him as a unifying factor. Here at the cenotaph , here at the cenotaph, englands Fallen Heroes are honoured alongside the patron saint, laying a wreath ahead of the 80th anniversary of the normandy landings. D day veteran henry rice, a proud englishman aged 98. We were taught all all this and it was so proud to just be english, saint george. Yeah, english, saint george. Yeah, hes a great guy and he patriotism is sometimes criticised. English history isnt perfect , but a community of all cultures can cherish saint george. Back in carlton. Colins raising a different flag with a traditional anglo saxon dragon. Traditional anglo saxon dragon. I present george, they have a great day. Will hollis gb news in nottingham. Nottingham. Well, are you going to have a great day . Let us know what youre doing to commemorate and mark Saint Georges day. Joining us now, royal historian and columnist martin whittock martin, just just a bit, i dont understand is saint george never actually set foot in england . So actually set foot in england . So how does he then become the patron saint of england . Patron saint of england . Thats a very good question, the original george , according the original george, according to tradition, was a cappadocian greek who lived in what is now central turkey. There was no turkey at the time, completely different, it was a greek speaking area. Cappadocia and greek, who was martyred for his faith. According to tradition, under the Roman Emperor diocletian and according to tradition, martyred in what we now call central israel, in an 11th century source. Hes then given the idea of the role of fighting a dragon. But in libya, so youve got what is now turkey. Youve got what is now israel, youve got what is now libya. Whats going on here . He became a very, very Popular Military saint because he was a roman soldier and because he died for his faith. And it particularly took off from the 11th and 12th century onwards, following the crusades. This idea of martial christianity in the early medieval period. Hes then in 1222, hes given his first role as having an official day set aside for him in this country. And hes then picked up again by warrior kings , edward again by warrior kings, edward the third and henry the fifth. In the 14th and 15th century. But his roots go back to this quite extraordinary story of martyrdom in the late roman empire. But he caught peoples imagination. He patron saint in georgia, in the caucasus of moscow, in russia, of bosnia, herzegovina , and of course, of herzegovina, and of course, of england. So he is internationally popular as this heroic soldier who died for his faith. But, as you say, a quite extraordinary route that got to that point in 1222, when the engush that point in 1222, when the english kings began to think he is our patron saint, english kings began to think he is our patron saint , this is our patron saint, this country. Before that, the patron saint was much more inclined to be edward the confessor, who was a late anglo saxon king, but he did not have a particular reputation as a warrior, and so he gets replaced by george from the 13th century onward. And a spoiler alert, of course, because sir andrew never got to scotland either. So in distinction to the welsh saint david and the irish saint patrick, who were all associated with their countries, saint george and saint andrew didnt actually get to the countries which celebrate them. Okay, so do you think that might be part of the reason, then, that we dont embrace our national day in the same way as, say, our irish counterparts charts . Or do you think it is more to do with, as some people claim, that the Saint Georges flag has been claimed by political parties, football fans, you know, a lot of people sort of shy away from it now. I think its due to a cocktail of reasons, until the reformation in 16th century, he was incredibly popular, incredibly popular. There were Saint Georges day ridings when people went out on horseback, dressed up as saint george. Huge dressed up as saint george. Huge amount of stuff going on. And then he crashed and burned, in 1547, 1548, during the protestant reformation, because he was a saint and catholic saints were out. He then comes back a bit under queen elizabeth, but not very big at all. And he never really comes back into favour again until the 19th century, when suddenly theres a burst of interest in saint george. He hits a peak again in the 1930s, and after the Second World War, he just kind of fizzles out again. And i think part of the problem is that he isnt actually directly associated with the country. You associated with the country. You know, as somebody who actually was here, i think thats part of it. I think its also because people feel or have felt that hes been kind of annexed by a particular part of the political spectrum, though that shouldnt stop him being celebrated by everybody. And i think it also